The photo is from when I applied to the Houston, Texas police department in 1971. I was 19 years old.

I never heard anything from them after that.

And that’s okay—the career path I ended up with was a better fit for me.  Of that, I am sure.

I can only imagine what things would have been like if I had been hired. At the time, it was a potential job opportunity and career path to a better life.  I didn’t really perceive any downsides.  Today, though, I see plenty.

In 2012, a study of 464 police officers linked the day-to-day stress of police work to “increased levels of sleep disorders, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, brain cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and suicide.” Other studies show that 7 to 19 percent of active-duty officers have PTSD.  MRIs of the brains of police officers have identified a connection “between experiencing trauma and a reduction in areas that play roles in emotional and cognitive decision-making, memory, fear, and stress regulation.”¹

The lives of police officers are impacted in four key ways.²

1. Stress is chronic. The suicide rate for police is one of the highest for any group. From repetitive trauma exposure and socializing with peers who must cope with the same, they are at risk for developing alcohol abuse and dependency. Conflicting expectations between the officer’s professional standards and the need to deal with complex and difficult situations add to the stress.
2. The family is impacted: Long hours, rotating shifts, canceled leaves.  Officers miss birthdays, school activities, and other family milestones. Some officers may be overly controlling at home.
3. Social isolation is not uncommon.  Officers most commonly associate with other officers.  Seeing people at their worst may lead some officers to feel that the world consists mainly of criminals and fools.  With some, this may lead to an “us against them” mentality.
4. Public perception can be debilitating.  This is particularly true over the last year or so.  It’s natural that police officers worry about how what they do will be perceived by others.

I admire and respect people who ethically and responsibly work in law enforcement.

I do not support the calls for defunding or disbanding of police organizations.  If anything, funding should be increased, with higher pay commensurate with the difficulties and stresses of the work.

With cameras of all types—cell phones, CCTV, doorbell cams, body cams, dash cams, etc.—so widespread, it is far easier today to scrutinize the behavior of police.  While, in some respects, it may make the job more difficult, those who ethically and responsibly work the job should embrace the technology.

I don’t think I would have been a good fit for police work—and it certainly would not have been a good fit for me.

1. Hayasaki, E. (2014, March 14). Life of a Police Officer: Medically and Psychologically Ruinous. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/life-of-a-police-officer-medically-and-psychologically-ruinous/284324/. (Accessed July 3, 2021)
2. Heibutzki, R. (2018, August 8). The Effects of Being a Police Officer. Work. https://work.chron.com/effects-being-police-officer-8866.html. (Accessed July 3, 2021)

“Sometimes you get applause for not being dead.”

40 Years of Comedy—HBO 1997

George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, and author. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comics of all time, he was dubbed “the dean of counterculture comedians”.[1] He was known for his dark comedy and reflections on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and taboo subjects. His “seven dirty words” routine was central to the 1978 United States Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a 5–4 decision affirmed the government’s power to censor indecent material on the public airwaves. (Wikipedia)

When Karen saw the Himalayan salt lamp in the Airbnb we rented near Idaho Springs, Colorado, she knew she wanted it… so she got it.

No, not the one from the Airbnb—just one that looks a lot like it.

She had been interested in one for quite a while. She ordered one after we got home from the trip and we got it yesterday.  It’s on a  cabinet in the dining room, replacing a small lamp that was normally on.  It makes a good night light, though we’ll leave it on during the day, too.  We’ll replace the light bulb that came with it with a dimmable LED light to reduce the power consumption.

Himalayan salt is rock salt (halite) mined from the Punjab region of Pakistan. The salt, which often has a pinkish tint due to trace minerals, is primarily used as a food additive to replace refined table salt but is also used for cooking and food presentation, decorative lamps, and spa treatments. The product is often promoted with groundless claims that it has health benefits. (Wikipedia)

According to WebMD, “A Himalayan salt lamp might bring a nice decorative touch and a warming glow to your space, but there’s no research right now that says it will improve your health in a big way.”

And, that’s what we have now, a nice decorative touch with a warm glow.  Perfect!

Short hair for men has long been the norm in the United States.  Sure, a lot of men from the 60s onward have sported longer hair. Most, however, did not. Others, facing pattern baldness, deal with that by going fully bald.

On average, hair grows about a half an inch a year.  An individual human hair has a “life span” of two to six years, so the maximum hair length for an individual can range from one to three feet, though some people’s hair is longer-living and can grow their hair much longer.

I’ve tried growing my hair longer.  The longest I’ve been able to deal with is almost all the way to the bottom of my ears. By that point—or, more often, long before—I get tired of dealing with the longer mop—combing it, the weight of it, the hair in my eyes—and go see Daryl, my barber of many decades.  Maybe if it was straighter, I could let it grow longer.  However, the longer more my hair gets, the more it curls and the more of a hassle it seems to be.

I generally only get it cut when it starts to annoy me.  It varies between two to four months, I guess, between visits to the barber.  Since March of 2020, during COVID, I’ve only had it cut three times.

Of course, now, my hair is grey instead of the dark brown in the picture as is the beard that I’ve almost always had since I was in the Navy in the early 70s—I’ve not been without a mustache since boot camp in the first part of 1972.

Hair – The Cowsills

She asks him why
“Why I’m a hairy guy?”
I’m hairy noon and nighty-night night
My hair is a fright
I’m hairy high and low
But don’t ask me why
‘Cause he don’t know
It’s not for lack of bread
Like the Grateful Dead
Darlin’

Gimme a head with hair
Long, beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming
Streaming, flaxen, waxen

Give me down to there (Hair!)
Shoulder length or longer hair (Hair!)
Here baby, there mama
Everywhere daddy daddy

Hair (Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair!)
Grow it, show it
Long as I can grow it
My hair

I let it fly in the breeze
And get caught in the trees
Give a home for the fleas in my hair
A home for fleas
A hive for the buzzin’ bees (buzzin’ beeeeeeeesssss)
A nest for birds
There ain’t no words
For the beauty, the splendor, the wonder
Of my…

Hair (Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair!)
Grow it, show it
Long as I can grow it
My hair

I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy
Snaggy, shaggy, ratsy, matsy
Oily, greasy, fleecy
Shining, gleaming, streaming
Flaxen, waxen
Knotted, polka-dotted
Twisted, beaded, braided
Powdered, flowered, and confettied
Bangled, tangled, spangled, and spaghettied!

Oh say can you see
My eyes if you can
Then my hair’s too short

Down to here
Down to there
Down to there?
Down to where?
It stops by itself

Don’t never have to cut it
‘Cause it stops by itself

Oh give me a head with hair
Long, beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming
Streaming, flaxen, waxen

Won’t you gimme it down to there (Hair!)
Shoulder length or longer (Hair!)
Here baby, there mama
Everywhere daddy daddy
Hair (Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair!)
Grow it
Show it
Long as I can grow it
My hair (Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair!)
Grow it
Show it
Long as I can grow it
My hair (Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair!)
Hair!

I saw a lot of movies during some of the summers when I was a kid. The Fox theater in North Platte, Nebraska had weekly matinees that were packed with youngsters. As I recall, they were double features.  Tickets for the summer were sold by the sheet.  Each week, you would tear one off for admission to the shows.

Intersection of 5th and Baily – Paramount Theater, Pawnee Hotel, and Fox Theater – circa 1940s

In those days – the late 50s and early 60s – it was quite safe for kids to walk or ride their bikes just about anywhere. The Fox was around a mile from where we lived on the north side of the tracks, just a 15-minute walk, quicker on a bike.  Easy peasy.

There were 3 other theaters in operation during the years I lived in North Platte.

Saturday morning movie crowd, October 1938,
John Vachon, Farm Security Administration (Library of Congress image)

One, the Paramount, was diagonally across the street from the Fox.  I don’t specifically remember going to anything there.  The building was converted into a department store that housed J.C. Penny, as I recall. It had the first elevator I can remember riding in.

Another, the State Theater, was on North Jeffers, just down from the viaduct over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.  I only remember going there once.  One of the ubiquitous Dollar General stores sits on that location now.

The last theater was the Pawnee Drive-in.  While I remember going there, the main thing I seem to remember was that there was a small playground below the screen, though I could be mistaken.  It was out near the county fairgrounds and there is still a visible vestige imprint on the land in satellite views.

The last summer I might have gone tp the Saturday matinees would have been 1964, when I was 12 years old.  I spent the summer of ‘65 in Houston, Texas.  When I returned to North Platte, we had moved to the south side of town about a mile and a quarter west of the Fox.  I know I didn’t go to any matinees in the summer of ‘66 and after the school year ended in ‘67, I moved away from North Platte permanently.

Things have changed a lot since then.  I-80 ended at North Platte coming from the east. Little of the construction south of the South Platte River had even been started.  Shopping was still mostly done downtown.  As far as I know, there was no thought of a mall.  (I visited a mall for the first time the summer of ‘67 after leaving North Platte) The library was still in the old Carnegie library across from the courthouse. I had estimated at the time that it was 1 mile to the library, which I visited very often after we moved to the south side.  According to Google Maps, it’s 1.1 miles.

According to Max Brantley at the Arkansas Times:

It is the 50th anniversary of the incorporation of FedEx in Little Rock. Fed Ex now celebrates its anniversaries pegged to its move to Memphis in 1973, when it was lured in part by a promise of a Memphis airport expansion and $6 million loan. The rest is transportation history. Memphis is the logistics hub of the nation and has the second-busiest airport in the world. Governing magazine in 2010 called Memphis’ decision to lure the fledgling enterprise perhaps “the single most important economic development decision made in any major U.S. city in the past 30 years.” Which could also be said, in reverse, about Little Rock.

Actual operations didn’t start until after the move to Memphis.

Federal Express officially began operations on April 17, 1973, with 389 team members. That night, 14 small aircraft took off from Memphis and delivered 186 packages to 25 U.S. cities from Rochester, New York, to Miami, Florida. Though the company did not show a profit until July 1975, it soon became the premier carrier of high-priority goods in the marketplace and set the standard for the express shipping industry it established.

This is cross-posted at Haw Creek.

All of our snow is gone. It doesn’t last long here once the weather warms up.  We would have been stuck here for about a week because of it, but being at home during COVID is the norm, so I can’t really say we were stuck here due to the weather.

I actually shoveled snow for the first time in forever.  We don’t even own a snow shovel so I used a regular flat blade shovel.

Our heat pump had gone out during the coldest, snowiest days.  We have the fireplace and plenty of seasoned dry firewood as well as several modern safe space heaters so staying warm wasn’t an issue.

We had a call in for heating and air techs to come out at the end of that week so I shoveled a pathway to and around our old heat pump.  By old, I mean ancient and obsolete.  We had it originally installed in the mid 1980s to replace the previous unit.  We had several repairs to the unit in recent years, but this time weren’t terribly surprised to be told that it was to the point that it could not be repaired, that repair parts were no longer available for it.  The techs told us they would let the office know and that they would call us on Monday about ordering a new unit.

I know that a lot of people say you should get more than one quote on a purchase like that, but we’ve been dealing with this company for years.  In fact, they installed the unit that was being replaced.  When they called on Monday, their price was in the ballpark for what I researched, so I told them to go ahead and order the unit they had come up with.  It came in on Wednesday and they installed it on Thursday.

While they were here, birds were still flying to the bird feeders in that area.  The birds have been going absolutely crazy the last few days.  Some of them are really selfish little buggers, flailing their wings and pecking at other visitors to the feeders.  Most of them have been new to us — pine siskins, which have a highly variable winter migration pattern.

We’re scheduled for our first COVID shots on the 4th.  It’s a bit of a drive, but all of the local lists are full up for weeks.

Our backyard.

This week has been one for the record books, for sure, across much of the United States.  Millions have lost power and water, especially across Texas, most of which is on its own electric grid separated from the rest of the United States.  Snow and extended subfreezing temperatures are widespread, including many areas where the utility infrastructure is not designed for this kind of weather.

I lived for about 5 years in the greater Houston Texas area.  While some winter days were chilly, and we had rudimentary natural gas heaters, I never saw temperatures much below the 50s that I can recall.  The only jacket that I had was a windbreaker.

We have had a total of about 11 inches of snow between two storms and our temperature has been below freezing all week—it’ll probably have been 9 days of subfreezing temperature before it finally gets above freezing.  The lowest we’ve seen is -3°F, I believe.

…and next week is supposed to be in the 60s!